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CITY OF MACON, DECEMBER 5th, 1867. 


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PROCEEDINGS. 


Macon, Ga., December 5, 1867. 


At a Conservative Convention of the people of Georgia, begun 
and held in the city of Macon, on the 5th day of December, in 
the year 1867, on motion of General A. R. Wright, a delegate 
from the county of Richmond, Hon. B. H. Hill, a delegate from 
the county of Clarke, was unanimously chosen President of the 
Convention. 

On motion of P. W. Alexander, Esq., a delegate from the 
county of Muscogee, a committee, consisting of Messrs. P. W. 
Alexander, Eli Warren and Jared I. Whitaker, was appointed 
to notify Mr. Hill of his election and to conduct him to the 
chair, 

Mr. Hill, on taking the chair, addressed the Convention as 
follows: 

Gentlemen of the Convention :—Your assembling is auspi¬ 
cious—auspicious in time and in place; auspicious for our State— 
for all the States, for constitutional government and human 
liberty. When I look over this large, intelligent and venerable 
assembly, I am assured your deliberations will be as they ought 
to be; as the grave issues before you require they should be— 
wise, moderate and considerate, but firm, frank and determined. 

Eighty years ago the fathers of the people of all these States, 
fresh from the common struggles of a revolution waged for the 
liberties of each State, assembled in Philadelphia to found and 
organize a Constitution and Government adapted to the condi¬ 
tion and wants of the people, and thenceforth to be known as 
peculiarly American. They represented States, each acknowl¬ 
edged to be independent, sovereign and absolute. They found 










4 


PROCEEDINGS OF THE 


interests common to all tlie States, and interests local and peculiar 
to each State. They naturally and wisely determined to confide 
to a common and federal government, the administration of the 
interests common to all, leaving to each State the undisturbed 
control of the interests peculiar to itself. They framed a written 
Constitution for the General Government, and in that written 
Constitution sought distinctly to set forth the powers conferred, 
and declared the common interest, the general welfare, which the 
exercise of those powers was destined to promote and conserve. 
To protect the States from encroachments by the General Gov¬ 
ernment, they declared that all powers not delegated, were 
expressly reserved. To protect the General Government from 
interference by the States, they declared that the General Gov¬ 
ernment, within its powers, should be supreme. 

Under this happy arrangement of distinct but harmonious 
governments—the great American idea, all hedged about by 
written Constitutions—the great American safe-guards—our peo¬ 
ple grew and prospered as no people ever before either grew or 
prospered. 

But, unfortunately, in the Convention itself, difierences existed 
which were not reconciled and solved v/ith sufficient distinctness; 
differences, too, touching the respective rights and powers of the 
created and creating governments. These differences continued 
to exist, to enlarge and to excite, until finally they culminated 
in a fearful, disastrous and ever to be regretted collision of arms. 

After a gallant defence of her convictions, honestly entertained, 
and of her rights long enjoyed according to those convictions, 
the South laid down her arms. Every intelligent and honest 
man knows that the people of the South desisted from the strug¬ 
gle, sincerely desiring, and in good faith intending, to remain in 
the Union of our common fathers, as modified only by the legiti¬ 
mate issues settled by the arbitrament of arms. All who say 
otherwise, slander a frank, noble and gallant people, and they 
know they slander. Why, then, have we not union, and peace^ 
and good will in union ? 

There is but one answer to this question: It is because the 
startling fact is now plainly developed to the whole world of man¬ 
kind, which a few wise men always saw and feared, that there are 
Americans who were never satisfied with the original arrange¬ 
ment made by our fathers—with the idea of central and local 
governments, each sovereign in its sphere—and they are taking 



CONSERVATIVE CONVENTION, 


5 


advantage of our unfortunate convulsions, and of the passions 
thereby engendered, to abrogate that arrangement, and to destroy 
the governments thereon founded. 

Therefore, the great question now before the American people— 
the question out of which all other questions grow—is: Shall we, 
cim we, preserve that original arrangement ? Shall we, can we, 
retain and continue a General Government, supreme in its sphere, 
but limited in its powers to the general interests common to all 
the States, and local governments, absolute over the local inte¬ 
rests peculiar to each State ? Shall we keep faith with plainly 
written Constitutions ? Can we continue constitutional govern¬ 
ment ? If we can, all interests are thereby saved, and all other 
questions are thereby settled. If we cannot, all the interests of 
all the people of all the States are jeopardized and destroyed, 
and all—States, people and interests—are hurried into wild con¬ 
fusion, subjected to the terrible ordeal of bloody anarchy, and 
bound to the inevitable destiny of universal, irremediable des¬ 
potism ! Negro supremacy, universal suffrage, social and political 
equality of races, are all issues, fearful issues, but they are all 
subordinate issues. God fixed the question of equality. Human 
governments must settle and protect rights. If we can preserve 
our American arrangements of governments, all rights—ade¬ 
quate, appropriate and equal rights for all races—are secure; 
but if these governments are not preserved, all rights and all 
equality for all races are gone, and all people on the continent 
must become the mere subjects of power, and the remediless 
victims of wrong and tyranny. 

The party which seeks to destroy these wisely-ordered and 
well-balanced governments, framed in 1787, is one with which 
you can make no compromise without being false to the white 
race, false to the black race, false to the Constitution, and false 
to every original and fundamenfal principle on which the Ameri¬ 
can federative system rests. 

It needs no wise man, no annointed prophet, therefore, to tell 
you your duty. That duty is as manifest as existence, and as 
important as life. It is summed up in one sentence: Hold on, 
hold on, hold on at all hazards and through all sacrifices, to the 
Comtitution of your fathers. We are called “rebels” and 
“traitors,” because we desire to live under that Constitution, 
while they who call us so, are daily engaged in the rebellious 
and traitorous work of insidiously undermining and destroying 








6 


PROCEEDINGS OF THE 


that Constitution and every principle incorporated in it. They 
would conceal, by their words, the treason their acts make patent. 
They divert, by their calumnies of others, attention from the 
wicked measures by which they are bringing ruin upon all. 
Hitherto they have had the aid of the people of the North. But 
they have secured that aid by the most monstrous and persistent 
misrepresentations and slanders of our desires, our actions and 
our purposes. 

But I am fully convinced that the people of the North—even 
a large proportion of tho'se known as Eepublicans—do not, in 
their hearts, desire to do us injustice. They have oppressed 
because they have misunderstood. But slanders can not always 
deceive. Wrongs cannot always triumph. The time is coming— 
aye, it is at hand—when that people, undeceived, will rush to our 
relief and hurl from power the party that has deceived them to 
oppress us. Conscious that they are now a minority of the 
American people, they are seeking to prolong the power they 
acquired in passion and through deception, by adding to their 
catalogue of enormities the double crime of disfranchising intel¬ 
ligence and virtue and enfranchising ignorance and vice. Let 
us go on in the even tenor of our way, bravely enduring, but 
fearlessly making known at all times and in the most emphatic 
manner our grievances and our wrongs. 

The Convention soon to assemble at Atlanta will be the first 
Convention ever held in Georgia of which it may be truly said, 
it is not of the people. I will not now' review the fraudulent 
agencies or its call, nor the criminal purpose of its assembling, 
nor dissect the character of its members. 

May the God of the patriot, even at this late day, flash light 
upon the minds of at least all who are natives of our soil, and 
may they yet pause before they become hopelessly recreant to 
all they hold dear, and to all for which their children can have 
hope! 

On motion of Edward H. Pottle, Esq., a delegate from the 
county of Warren, Colonel John B. Weems, of the county of 
Bibb, was appointed Secretary of the Convention, with power 
to appoint such number of assistants as he might require. 
Messrs. G. W. Gustin, John U. Shorter and Harry J. Neville, 
of the county of Bibb, were appointed Assistant Secretaries. 



CONSERVATIVE CONVENTION. 


T 


On motion of Hon. Thomas Hardeman, Jr., a delegate from 
the county of Bibb, the Secretary was instructed to proceed to a 
call of the counties; whereupon the following delegates appeared 
and enrolled their names, to wit: 


BAKER. 

W. D. Williams, 

I. H. Hand, 

James P. Stevens. 

BARTOW. 

F. A. Huson. 

BALDWIN. 

G. L. Deming, 
Miller Grieve, Jr., 
Samuel McComb, 
L. D. Buckner. 

BIBB. 

T. G. Holt, 

J. J. Gresham, 

L. N. Whittle, 

G. W. Adams, 

E. L. Strohecker, 
A. Foster, 

James Tinley, 

C. A. Tharpe, 

W. F. Wilburn, 

P. E. Bowdre, 

J. B. Ross, 

A. O. Bacon, 

J. Russell, 

T. C. Dempsey, 

F. H. Alley, 

E. Crockett, 

D. Abraham, 
George S. Jones, 

J. R. Sneed, 

Thos. Hardeman, 

C. A. Nutting, 
Alfred Iverson, 

D. W. Hammond, 
W. S. Holt, 

M. S. Thomson, 
Clifford Anderson, 
A. W. Reese. 

CAMDEN. 

J. J. Ryals. 


CHATHAM. 

W. T. Thompson, 

C. B. Richardson, 
George A. Mercer. 

CHATTOOGA. 

E. Henley, 

J. T. Hamilton. 

CLARK. 

William M. Browne, 
Benjamin H. Hill. 

CLAY. 

Francis T. Tennell. 

COLUMBIA. 

James S. Jones, 

J. P. Williams, 

J. E. White, 
William J. Steed. 

COWETA. 

Tollison Kirby, 
William B. Dent, 
W. F. Wright. 

CRAWFORD. 

J. P. Blasingame. 

DADE. 

J. Cooper Nisbet. 

DECATUR. 

E. B. Griffin, 

W. M. Russell. 

DEKALB. 

Robert A. Alston, 
W. L. Goldsmith, 
Milton A. Candler. 

DOUGHERTY. 

Nelson Tift, 

James H. Campbell. 

DOOLY. 

R. M. Owen, 

Jerry Slade, 




8 


PROCEEDINGS OF THE 


DOOLT -(COWTINUBD.) 

William Wallace, 
Davis S. Goode, 
R. Redding, 

T. J. HiimphrieB, 
J. J. Collier, 

J. Hayden. 

ELBERT. 

E. P. Edwards. 

EMANUEL, 

L. B. Bouchelle. 

FLOYD. 

A. R. Wright, 

J. A. Stewai*t, 

J. W. Turner, 

M. Dwinell. 

FULTON. 

J. I. Whitaker, 

T. T. Smith, 

J. P. Hambleton, 
J. H. Steele, 

J. F. Alexander, 

C. Hurbst, 

L. J. Glenn, 

F. O. Rudy, 

P. P. Pease, 

W. B. Wiley. 

GLASSCOCK. 

J. C. King. 

GORDON. 

J. M. Thompson. 

GREENE. 

John K. Spence. 

HANCOCK. 

B. T. Harris, 

F. J. Pearson, 

F. L. Little, 

J. F. Jordan, 

W. J. Northern, 

G. F. Pierce, Jr., 

T. H. Audas. 

HARRIS. 

J. M. Kimbrough. 


HOUSTON. 

Eli Warren, 

J. C. Gilbert, 

H. M. Ploltzclaw, 
J. W. Hardison, 

C. N. Rountree, 

C. C. Duncan, 

J. T. Cooper, 

D. H. Houser. 
John Jackson, 

JASPER. 

T. C. Broddus, 

T. J. Pritchett, 
William Fish, 

J. W. Preston, 

F. Goolsby, 

Reese Goolsby, 

C. H. Greer, 

James Henderson, 
J. H. Holland, 

J. P. Stewart, 

S. McMichael, 

B. R. Ezell, Jr., 

L. H. Lane, 

L. W. Pou, 

W. A. Perry, 

W. P. Hardy, 

Isaac W. Freeman. 

JONES. 

James H. Gray, 

R. W. Bonner, 

W. T. McCullough, 

M. T. Bozeman, 
Isaac Hardeman, 
James H. Blount, 
Roland T. Ross, 

F. S. Johnson, Sr., 
Green Roberts, 
William Roberts, 

N. S. Glover, 

Leroy Singleton. 

LEE. 

G. W. Warwick, 

W. H. Weems, 

G. M. Stokes, 

F. H. West. 




OONSERVATIVB CONVENTION. 


LINCOLN. 

E. Lockhart, 

N. Bussey, 

E. J. Lyon. 

LUMPKIN. 

Wier Boyd. 

MACON. 

P.^ Cook, 

W. P. Lrumright, 
John G. Smith, 
Daniel Kleckley, 
Charles A. Taylor, 

S. D. Everett, 

D. L. Wicker. 

MILLER. 

J. K. Whitehead. 

MILTON. 

J. Graham. 

MONROE. 

T. J. Fletcher, 

W. B. Meek, 

Isaac Winter, 

W. C. Redding, 

E. G. Cabaniss. 

MORGAN. 

D. E. Butler. 

MUSCOGEE. 

Thomas Ragland, 

P. W. Alexander, 

J. M. Russell, 

J. A. L. Lee, 

A. R. Lamar, 
Thomas W. Grimes, 

NEWTON. 

P. Reynolds, 

Win. S. Montgomery. 

OGLETHORPE. 

J. D. Matthews. 

PIKE. 

W. O. Kendrick, 

W. D. Redding, 

J. P. Hanson, 

J. A. Hunt. 

POLK. 

L. H. Walthall, 

J. F. Thompson. 


PULASKI. 

C. M. Bozeman, 

N. McDuffie, 

Charles C. Kibbce, 

K. W. Collier, 
Robert Anderson, 

A. S. Burke, 

J. W. Carruthers, 

G. R. Coley, 

R. S. Coley. 

PUTNAM. 

K. S. Walker, 

A. S. Reid, Jr., 

R. C. Humber, 

J. W. Hudson. 

QUITMAN. 

D. Morris, 

T. L. Guerry. 

RANDOLPH. 

P. L. J. May, 

H. H. Jones, 

W. M. Tumlin, 

W. K. Kiddo, 

A. J. Moye, 

Charles Stanley, 
Herbert Fielder. 

RICHMOND. 

A. R. Wright, 

L. D. Lallerstedt, 
William Craig, 
William H. Tutt, 

J. W. Bessman, 

J. K. Evans. 

SCHLEY. 

W. J. Sears. . 

SCRIVEN. 

E. B. Gross. 

SPAULDING. 

Robert A. Crawford, 
Jason Burr, 

David H. Johnson, 

F. S. Fitch. 

STEWART. 

John M. Scott, 
James K. Barnum. 





to 


PROCEEDINGS OF THE 


SUMTER. 

G. T. Wilburn, 

T. M. Furlow, 

G. W. Bivins, 

Charles T. Goode, 

W. J. Keese, 

Charles W. Hancock, 
AV. A. Hawkins, 

W. H. Davidson. 

TALBOT. 

W. A. Little, 

William Drane. 

TAYLOR. 

D. L. Downs. 

TERRELI-. 

Leroy Brown, 

J. E. Loyless, 

R. F. Simmons, 

H. L. Graves. 

TROUP. 

C. H. C. AVillinghara, 
P. E. L. Jennings, 

H. AV. Morgan. 

TWIGGS. 

Ira E. Dupree, 

A. McCallum, 

D. G. Hughes, 

John H. Denson, 
Robert R. Slappey, 
Lewis Solomon, 


TWIGGS—(cosTrwtTKD.) 

John A. Nelson, 

J. E. Crossland. 

WALTON. 

W. AA^ McLe-stcr. 

WARREN. 

E. H. Pottle. 

WASHINGTON. 

John B. Turner, 
R. W. Flournoy, 
Green Brantley, 
Bennet Hook, 

J. M. G. Medlock. 

WEBSTER. 

George S. Rosser, 
J. N. McCain. 

WHITFIELD. 

Isaac AV. Avery. 

WILKINSON. 

W. E. Carswell, 
M. J. Carswell, 

R. H. Carswell, 
AV. AV. Lee, 

Joel Deese, 

E. J. Coates, 

Isaac Lindsey, 

J. M. Folsom, 

E. J. Massey, 

G. H. Brazeal. 


Colonel AA’^. F. AVright, a delegate I’rom the county of Coweta, 
moved that the delegates from each Congressional District report 
the name of one delegate from each district as a Vice-President 
of the Convention—which motion prevailed. 

On motion of Major John H. Steele, a delegate from the 
county of Fulton, the Convention took a recess for five minutes, 
to enable the delegates from the different Congressional Districts 
to report the names of Vice-Presidents. 

The Convention being called to order, the following delegates 
were reported as Vice-Presidents of the Convention, to wit: 

First Congressional District —Major AV. T. Thompson. 

Second Congressional District —General Eli Warren. 




CONSERVATIVE CONV ENTION. 


11 


Third Congressional District —Colonel William F. Wright. 

Fourth Congressional District —Dr. Ira E. Dupree. 

Fifth Congressional District —General A. R. Wright. 

Sixth Congressional District —J. Graham. 

Seventh Congressional District —Hon. A. R. AVright. 

On motion of Mr. Dwinell, a delegate from the county of 
Floyd, citizens of counties unrepresented, and who sympathise 
with the purposes of^he Convention, were invited to pnroll their 
names as delegates from their respective counties. 

Whereupon, Mr. AVier Boyd, of the county of Lumpkin, and 
J. J. Ryals, of the county of Camden, appeared and enrolled 
their names as delegates. 

On motion of James R. Sneed, Esq., a delegate from the 
county of Bibb, the rules of the House of Representatives of 
Georgia Avere adopted for the government of the Convention. 

On motion of Hon. J. J. Gresham, a delegate from the county 
of Bibb, a committee, consisting of two delegates from each 
Congressional District, was appointed to prepare and report 
business for the action of the Convention. 

The committee appointed under the foregoing resolution, are 
as follows: 

First Congresdonal District —George A. Mercer and C. B. 
Richardson. 

Second Congressional Dwtrict —General Phillip Cook and T. 
M. Furlow. 

Third Congressional District —P. AV. Alexander and C. H. C. 
Willingham. 

Fourth Congressional District —Hon. Thomas Hardeman, Jr., 
and Daniel G. Hughes. 

Fifth Congressional District —Hon. David E. Butler and Hon. 
E. H. Pottle. 

Sixth Congressional District —J. Graham and W. AV^. McLester. 

Seventh Congressional District —Colonel Luther J. Glenn and 
J. A. Stewart. 

Hon. J. J. Gresham, of the county of Bibb, was nominated 
Chairman of the Committee. 

General A. R. Wright presented certain resolutions adopted 



12 


PROCEEDINGS OF THE 


at a meeting of the citizens of Glynn county, which were read, 
and, on motion of Albert II. Lamar, Esq., a delegate from the 
county of Muscogee, were referred to the appropriate Committee. 

Hon. A. E. Wright, of the county of Floyd, presented certain 
resolutions in reference to our Federal relations and the duty of 
the people of Georgia growing out of the Keconstruction Acts of 
Congress, which were read. 

Hon. Thomas Hardeman, Jr., moved ftiat the resolutions pre¬ 
sented by Judge Wright, and all others of like character, which 
may be presented to the Convention, be referred to the Committee* 
on Business without discussion and without being read, which 
motion prevailed. 

A telegram was read, announcing to the Convention, that 
General Browne and Colonel Matthews, delegates from the 
counties of Oglethorpe and Clarke, would arrive to-night. 

On motion, the Convention adjourned to 3 o’clock, p. m. 


Three o’clock, p. m. 

The Convention met at 8 o’clock, p. m., pursuant to adjourn¬ 
ment. 

The President announced that notification had been received 
from the Committee on Business, that they would not be prepared 
to submit their report before 4 o’clock. 

Whereupon, the Hon. A. R. Wright, General A. E. Wright 
and the President, in answer to respective calls made upon them, 
addressed the Convention upon the political questions of the day. 

Messrs. P. P. Pease, of Fulton, John A. Nelson, of Twigga, 
and Hon. E. G. Cabaniss and William C. Redding, Esq., of the 
county of Monroe, appeared and were enrolled as delegates. 

The Committee on Business having returned to the Hall of 
the Convention, submitted, through their Chairman, Hon. J. J. 
Gresham, certain resolutions, with an accompanying address to 
the people of Georgia; pending the consideration of which, on ^ 
motion of Albert R. Lamar, Esq., of Muscogee, the Convention I 
adjourned until 7 o’clock, p. m. ^ 










CONSERVATIVE CONVENTION. 


13 


Seven o’clock, p. m. 

The Ck)nvention assembled at 7 o’clock, p. m., and resumed 
the unfinished business of the last adjournment, which was the 
consideration of the report of the Committee on Business. 

Dr. John Jackson, of the county of Houston, appeared and 
was enrolled as a member of the Convention. 


Pending the consideration of the report of the Committee, 
the Plon. A. R. Wright moved that the same be recommitted, 
and upon this motion, J. R. Whitehead, Esq., of the county of 
filler, called for the previous question, which being sustained, 
the main question was ordered to be put, and the motion to 
recommit prevailed. 


On motion of Hon. A. R. Wright, the Committee on Business 
was enlarged by the addition of one delegate from each Con¬ 
gressional District. 

The following delegates were added to the Committee, to wit: 

First Congressional District —W. T. Thompson, 

Second Congressional District —T. L. Guerry. 

Third Congressional District —J. A. L. Lee. 

Fourth Congressional District —T. G. Holt. 

Fifth Congressional District —A. R. Wright. 

Sixth Congressional District —Isaac W. Avery. 

Seventh Congressional District —J. P. Hambleton, 

Mr. W. A. Little, of the county of Talbot, moved that the 
speeches of members in debate be limited to five minutes, which 
motion prevailed. 

The Convention then adjourned to 10 o’clock, Friday morning. 




14 


procep:dings of the 


Friday, Decj-:mber 6, 10 o’clock, a. m. 

The Convention met at 10 o’clock, a. m., pursuant to adjoun- 
ment. 

On motion of James R. Sneed, Esq., the rules were suspended, 
and Dr. Ira E. Dupree submitted the following resolutions, 
to wit: 

Whereas^ The prosperity and happiness of any people depend 
upon a well regulated agricultural system of labor, as well as a 
good government; and 

. Whereas, We, the people of the South, have, by the fate of 
war, experienced a change unparalleled in our social, financial 
and political condition; and 

Whereas^ We have, with praiseworthy zeal in effort and enter¬ 
prise, used every energy to restore our broken fortunes, mantain 
confidence in public faith, and build up a prosperous future for 
our beloved country; and 

Whereas, We have, for the last two years, cultivated large 
areas of worn out and unproductive lands by much hired labor, 
obtained at high prices; and 

Whereas, By such a system, we have, instead of increased 
wealth and resources, grown poorer, each year diminishing our 
means; and 

Whereas, Cotton has hillen below the cost of its production; 
and 

Whereas, The United States Government has unfairly and 
unjustly taxed its production two-and-a-half cents per pound— 
a tax unfair and unjust because its burden is on the South only, 
thus lessening our profits and throwing obstacles in the way of 
large production; and 

Whereas, We now' see, by two years trial, that the freedmen 
are lazy, indolent, and will not work so long as the Radical party 
holds out to them prospects, without cost, of landed homes, and 
equality in the government, at the same time demanding exor¬ 
bitant renumeration; and 

Whereas, We have, by the emancipation of our slaves and the ^ 
burdens of taxation, lost control of cotton in the markets of the ^ 
commercial world, and can no longer successfully compete with [ 



CONSERVATIVE CONVENTION. 


15 


Other nations, and are now a third power in its production; and 

Whereas, Our lands are exhausted and worthless, provisions 
scarce and high ; and 

Whereas, The price of cotton is too low to warrant the pur¬ 
chase of fertilizers; in order, therefore, to produce a wise and 
safe policy for the good of all classes, giving to the laborer his 
due reward and proper status, to advance the prosperity and 
happiness of all, and build up our ruined condition: 

Be it Resolved, It is the sense of this Convention, that wc 
must change our mode of cultivation ; we must abandon the 
cultivation of large worn-out farms, xjultivate little cotton, in¬ 
crease the production of cereals, improve our stock, and make 
our means of support at home, and above all, we must abandon 
the ruinous policy of the employment of many hired laborers 
and work more ourselves, practice a close economy, avoid debt, 
cultivate only the best spots of our land, and let the exhausted 
acres remain uncultivated. It is only by small farms, well culti¬ 
vated, that we can live and restore our fallen country to its 
wonted political, financial, social and religious condition. 

On motion of Milton A. Candler, Escp, of DeKalb, the fore- 
: going resolutions were laid on the table for the present. 

I Mr. Gresham, from the Committee on Business, submitted the 
; following preamble and resolutions, which were read, to wit: 

PREAMBLE AND RESOLUTIONS. 

We, the delegates of the people of Georgia, in Convention 
assembled, recognizing our obligations to support the General 
! Government in all legal and proper measures, and claiming from 
that Government the due performance of the reciprocal duty 
to extend to us, in common with all the people of our whole 
country, the protection guaranteed by the Constitution of our 
forefathers, do declare and afiirm that manly protest against bad 
public policy is the duty, as well as the right, of every American 
citizen: and this, without factious opposition to government, or 
untimely interruption of public harmony. The season for honest 
discussion of principles, and for lawful opposition to existing 
abuses and their growth, is ever present and pressing. 

The Southern people are true to constitutional liberty, and 
ready to acquiesce in any policy looking to the honor and good 
of the whole country, and securing the rights of all classe.'j of 
people. 






16 


PEOCEEDTNGS OF THE 


We regard tlie cffortB of the present ruling power to change 
the fundamental institutions of the United States Government, as 
false in principle, impolitic in action, injurious in result, unjust 
to the South, and detrimental to the General Government. 

Silence under wTong may be construed as endorsement. Be 
it, therefore. 

Resolved, 1st, That we recognize the duty to sustain law and 
order, to support cheerfully all constitutional measures of the 
United States Government, and to maintain the rights of all 
classes of people under enlightened and liberal laws. 

Resolved, 2d, That the people of Georgia accept, in good faith, 
the legitimate results of the late war, and renew the expression 
of their allegiance to the Union of the States, and reiterate their 
determination to maintain inviolate the Constitution framed by 
the fathers of the Republic. 

Resolved, 3d, That we protest, dispassionately, yet firmly, 
against what is known as the Reconstruction Acts of Congress, 
and against the vindictive and partisan administration of those 
Acts, as wrong in principle, oppressive in action, and ruinous to 
the States of the South, as well as hurtful to the true welfare of 
every portion of our common country, and leading directly, if 
not intentionally, to the permanent supremacy of the negro race 
in all those States where those laws are now being enforced. 

Resolved, Uh, That we protest, in like spirit and manner, 
against the policy of tlie dominant party in Congress, which 
seeks to inflict upon the States of the South permanent bad gov¬ 
ernment, as a wrong not only to all races in the South, and to 
the people of all parts of the Union, but a crime against civili¬ 
zation, which it is the duty of all right-minded men everywhere 
to discountenance and condemn. 

Resolved, 5th, That we enter on record, in the name and behalf 
of the people of this State, this, our solemn protest, against the 
assembling of a Convention, which we affirm, with evidence 
before us, has been ordered under pretence of votes wliich were 
illegally authorized, forcibly procured, fraudulently received, 
and falsely counted, as we believe. And, in view of the solemn 
responsibilities of the issues involved, we do hereby declare that 
we will forever hold the work of framing a Constitution by such 
authority, with intent to be forced, by military power, on the 
free people of tliis ancient Commonwealth, as a crime against our 



CONSERVATIVE CONVENTION, 


17 


people, against the continuance of free government, against the 
peace of society, against the purity of the ballot box, and against 
the dignity and character of representive institutions. 

Resolved, 6th, That a Central Executive Committee of fil’teen 
be appointed by the President of this Convention, at his con¬ 
venience; and that said Committee be authorized to call Conven¬ 
tions of the Conservative party of Georgia as often as the same 
may be necessary, and, also, to appoint sub-committees in the 
several counties of this State, and to take such other steps as 
may be proper to carry out the policy of this Convention. 

Resolved, 1th, That in view of contingencies that may here¬ 
after arise, it is made the further duty of said Executive Com¬ 
mittee to address the people of the State, and indicate, at the 
proper time, the policy, which, in their judgment, may then be 
deemed best adapted to subserve and promote the public good. 

Resolved, Sth, That this Convention do earnestly recommend 
to the Conservative men in each county of the State to organize 
at once, and report their organization to the Central Executive 
j Committee. 

Resolved, Wi, That Herschel V. Johnson, Absalom li. Chap¬ 
pell, Benj. H. Hill, Warren Akin and T. L. Guerry, be appointed 
a committee to prepare and publish an address to the people of 
Georgia and of the United States, setting forth the true senti¬ 
ments of the white race in this State, the deplorable condition 
of our people, and the ruin which the enforcement of the Recon¬ 
struction Acts of Congress will bring upon all classes in the 
I South. 

On motion of James A. Nisbet, Esq., of the county of Bibb, 
the 'preamble and resolutions luere unanimoiisly adopted. 

On motion, the rules were further suspended, and Mr. Rey¬ 
nolds, of Newton, reported the following resolutions, which were 
taken up and unanimously agreed to, to wit: 

Resolved, Tliat we tender our thanks and grateful acknowl¬ 
edgments to the Conservatives of the Northern and Western 
States, who are battling to sustain the Constitution of our fathers 
and the supremacy of the white race. And we hail as true 
friends of constitutional liberty, all those of every section who 
stand by the right of the States, alone, to confer suffrage and fix 
its conditions. 

Resolved, That our warmest gratitude and most heartfelt 
thanks are hereby tendered to the benevolent friends at the 
B 




18 


PEOCEEDINGS OF THE 


North and West, who sent their contributions so generously to 
our suffering people during the past and present year, and we 
pray that a gracious Providence will vouchsafe that they may 
gather up their bread tlius cast upon the waters a hundred fold, 
in days to come. 

P. W. Alexander, Esq., of Muscogee, submitted the following 
resolution, which was read and adopted, to wit: 

Resolvedy That 5,000 copies of the official Proceedings of this 
Convention, together with the Address liereafter to be prepared, 
be published in pamphlet form, and turned over to the Execu¬ 
tive Committee, for general distribution throughout the State; 
and that contributions be requested from the delegates of the 
Convention, to defray the expense of publication. 

On motion of Albert R. Lamar, Esq., of Muscogee, the Con¬ 
vention adjourned sine die. 

Before announcing the vote upon the question of adjournment, 
the President addressed the Convention as follows: 

Gentlemen of the Convention: Before pronouncing this Con¬ 
vention adjourned, I hope you will pardon me the liberty of a 
parting word. 

Your work in Convention is done, and well done. It will 
carry gladness to the hearts of your constituents, and inspire 
hope for your children. And thousands of noble and true men 
far av/ay, and throughout the North, will read the words of 
manliness and patriotism which you have this day pronounced, 
and will rejoice and take courage. 

Too long have the Southern people been traduced, their motives 
maligned, and their purposes misrepresented. And by whom ? 
By those who had closed their mouths, and denied them the 
opportunity of being heard in either refutation or explanation. 
Too long have the faithful defenders of the Constitution and of 
our rights under the Constitution, been compelled to stand in 
the breach and wage the battle in our behalf without the en¬ 
couragement of a word from their victims of the bayonet. At 
last you have spoken, and every word you have uttered, and 
every meaning you have felt or expressed, brands the charges of 
your enemies and oppressors as slanderous and traitorously false. 

Never, my friends, be afraid of the truth. Never be afraid 
to speak, to act, to defend the truth. In proportion as you have 
been maligned, the Constitution has been tattered and torn. 



CONSERVATIVE CONVENTION. 


19 


Too long have you been absent from the Councils of the Nation, 
and during that absence, the Constitution has been disregarded, 
despoiled, trampled upon and cast out. And how, with glad 
hearts and glorious welcome, the true friends of liberty will 
hail your coming again! And you will return with an earnest 
purpose to aid those whom you have left too long in unequal 
contest, in restoring the Constitution of our fathers and the 
prosperity of our common country. Do not be discouraged. 
Stand by the Constitution, and the day of your restoration and 
its triumph is sure and near. 

True, your work in Convention has ended, but the great w^ork 
has yet to be accomplished. Go home, and as you go, and when 
you go, speak words of encouragement and counsel to your 
neighbors. Let it be in your hearts, in your actions, in your 
determinations, that this fair land in which we were born and 
reared, ought not, need not and shall not be brought under the 
dominion of the negro and destroyed as the heritage of our 
children. 

Organize, in every county, organize. Not in secret, hidden 
conclaves as those who do evil, but in the open daylight and 
before the eyes of men, for the sun in the clearest hour of his 
noon, is not brighter than the glorious purpose which moves 
you and the high work which you seek to accomplish. 

You represent a people who know what sufferings mean. They 
have lost their property, and buried their children and comrades; 
they have seen their cities burned and their country laid waste; 
even now they see their industry paralyzed and their fields lying 
idle, while their coffers are exhausted and their garners are 
empty. But, thank God! Georgians are honorable yet, and 
beaming in your face and sparkling from your eyes I read the 
firm resolve that Georgians shall ever be honorable! You have 
indulged no spirit of hate and engaged in no personal animad¬ 
versions. You have organized no party for spoils, for you are 
saving a country for your children. 

Earnestly hoping that when we meet again we shall still be 
able to say we have a country worthy of our fathers, worthy of 
their children and worthy for our children, and with a Consti¬ 
tution supreme over all its enemies, I now pronounce this Con- 
tion adjourned without a day. 

BENJ. H. HILL, President 

John B. Weems, Secretary, 







CENTRAL EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE. 


The President made the following appointments in conformity 
to the sixth resolution : 

Macon, Ga., Dec. 7, 1867. 

By authority of the sixth resolution adopted by the Conserva¬ 
tive Convention of the People of Georgia, assembled by delegates 
in this city on the 5th instant, the following gentlemen are hereby 
appointed and will constitute the “Central Executive Committee,’^ 
ordered by that resolution : 

E. G. CABANISS, of Monroe, Chairman. 
EUGENIUS A. NISBET, of Bibb, 

JOHN J. GBESPIAM, of Bibb, 

JAMES JACKSON, of Bibb, 

GEORGE W. ADAMS, of Bibb, 

L. N. WHITTLE, of Bibb, 

JAMES R. SNEED, of Bibb, 

ANDERSON W. REESE, of Bibb, 

A. R. WRIGPIT, of Richmond, 

JULIAN HARTRIDGE, of Chatham, 

NELSON TIFT, of Dougherty, 

P. W. ALEXANDER, of Muscogee, 

JARED I. WHITAKER, of Fulton, 

J. W. A. JOHNSTON, of Whitfield, 

SUMNER J. SMITH, of Banks. 

In accordance with the manifest meaning of the resolution, 
this Committee, for efficient and prompt action, is made central. 
It is respectfully suggested that the Committee should, at an 
early day, organize, and appoint sub-committees for the different 
sections of the State. 

The gentlemen appointed will please accept the publication of 
this order as a notice to each of his appointment. 

BENJ. H. HILL. 



AN iVDDRESS 


TO THE 

PEOPLE OF GEORGIA AND OF THE UNITED STATES. 


Felloic-Citizens of Georgia and of the United States: 

By a Convention held at Macon, on the 5th and 6th of 
December, 1867, representing the Conservative people of Geor¬ 
gia, the undersigned were appointed a Committee to prepare an 
Address to you, setting forth their sentiments, their condition, 
their fearful apprehension of future ruin, and the final over¬ 
throw of constitutional government. In discharging this im¬ 
portant duty, we bring to the task an earnest and patriotic desire, 

! not only to promote the welfare of our own State, but also that 
of our whole country. 

i When the late unhappy war terminated and the Confederate 
arms were surrendered, a single condition only was required, 

I which was that w^e should return to the pursuits of peace and 
obey the Constitution and laws of the United States, under the 
pledge, by the victors, that, so long as we continued to do so, 
we should be protected in the unmolested enjoyment of the 
rights and priviliges which that Constitution and those laws 
guarantee to each State and to every citizen. We have kept our 
promise in letter and in spirit; and, from that day to this, no 
resistance has been offered to the Federal authorities. The laws 
of the United States are quietly obeyed, without the necessity 
of military power to enforce them. Their Courts are open and 
their processes respected. Crime can be punished by the regular 
and established modes of judicial procedure. With magnanimity 
and hopefulness, our people united in an earnest effort to build 
up their ruined fortunes and re-establish their lost prosperity. 
The war left our homes saddened with bereavement, and, in 




22 


AN ADDRESS TO THE REOPLE OF GEORGIA 


thousands of instances, in ashes. It brought universal sorrow 
and poverty. Our fields were desolated, our labor disorganized, 
our industry paralyzed, all our enterprises destroyed or crippled, 
and our capital sunk. Towns and cities were plundered and 
burned, and their inhabitants driven, in destitution, from their 
homes. But these were the fruits of war—not legitimate, to be 
sure—such, however, as usually attends its march of fire; and, 
therefore, we submitted to them with patience and fortitude, 
cheered by the hope, that the quarrel and carnage having ended, 
the return of peace and prosperity would begin, and that, at 
least, political fraternity w'ould be restored. Under this inspira¬ 
tion we endeavored to forget the bitterness which the struggle 
had engendered, to cultivate a spirit of conciliation and har¬ 
mony, and to evince, in every possible Avay, our desire to have 
Georgia restored to her constitutional relation to the Union. 
Terrible has been our‘disappointment. Having been baffled in 
the attempt at secession, upon the idea that such attempt was 
rebellion, we supposed that its suppression left Georgia a State 
in the Union, still possessing the inherent right of self-govern¬ 
ment and the constitutional right of representation in Congress. 
Instead of this, however, the President of the United States 
required that w^e should organize a new State government, ratify 
the Constitutional Amendment, abolishing slavery and incor¬ 
porating the same provision into our fundamental law; that we 
should repudiate our State war debt and abrogate the Ordinance 
of Secession and all the laws in furtherance of the Confederate 
cause. Animated by a determination to make any sacrifice but 
that of honor, suppressing even the spirit of complaint, for the 
sake of peace, we did all that he • required—even surrendering 
our most valuable property, that of our slaves—and consented 
to become almost paupers. Supposing that such deportment 
might challenge the magnanimity of the victors towards a fallen 
foe, we then thought, surely the dawn of peace was in sight, and 
that our right to the protection and benefits of a common Con¬ 
stitution would be recognized. We elected our Senators and 
Representatives, thus demonstrating, not only our expectation, 
hut also our earnest desire, again to participate in the councils 
and promised blessings of the Union restored. But, as before, 
disappointment was our fate. Our members were spurned from 
the halls of Congress and our people denounced as traitors and 
rebels. We have been persistently charged with hostility to the 




A]S"I) OF THE UNITED STATES. 


23 


Constitution and Union, and treated as outlaws from both. 
Whilst we do not thus allude to the deportment and temper of 
our people in a spirit of boasting, yet we challenge contradiction 
of our statements, and fearlessly array them before a candid 
world, as evidence of the injustice, unkindness and falsehood of 
the charges against us, urged as a pretext for our oppression. 

Proscription from the Union we could endure; the charge of 
hostility to it were tolerable; from our prostration we might 
rise ; our poverty we might surmount if we could be left undis¬ 
turbed and permitted to enjoy our inherent right of self-goveru- 
ment. Our noble State abounds with the elements and resources 
of material wealth; her people are enterprising and full of the 
consciousness of unsullied honor and unsubdued manhood. Give 
play to their capacities, unfetter their elastic energies, remove 
unnecessary and unjust burdens from their labor, and they will 
achieve prosperity for themselves and the blessings of exalted 
civilization for their posterity. But our oppressors are not 
willing to do this. They claim to make us the victims of their 
political policy—worse than that—they require us to be instru¬ 
mental in executing that policy, upon the peril of their veng- 
i eance ; that a proud and gallant people, upon wdiose honor none 
but the tongue of slander ever breathed aught of shame—their 
; own brethren by race, their ancestry and by political ties—shall 
vote for their own degredation or forfeit the rights of free 
I American citizens. Demand after demand having been made 
and submitted to, with as much complacency as a generous peo¬ 
ple could bring to the performance of humiliating duty, the 
scheme proposed by the Military Acts for Reconstruction is the 
bitter chalice offered to our lips, as the maximum of the victor’s 
magnanimity, which we are to drink to the dregs, on pain of 
political death for refusal. But, in our anxiety for friendship 
and good government, we did not dash it hastily from us. On 
its face it j^'^'ojessed to respect our wishes; it proposed that we 
should vote freely, for or against it—accept or reject it—and 
thus, by implication at least, invited us to examine and consider 
it. We did so, in the light of the Constitution, and we found 
not one word in that instrument to warrant the passage of the 
Reconsti’uction Acts. They rest upon the assumption that Con¬ 
gress has the power to construct governments for the States. 
They abrogate the Government of Georgia, which the people 
organized in deference to the President’s wishes, and, in its stead. 





24 


AN ADDIIESS TO THE PEOPLE OF GEORGIA 


place us under a Military Governor, clotlicd vith tlie power of 
despotism, under wljicli tlie sovereignty of the people is ignored 
and the principles of Magna Charta, incorporated into the Con¬ 
stitution for the security of property, life and liberty, are trodden 
under foot. They disfranchise a large portion of the most intel¬ 
ligent and virtuous citizens, as a punishment for alleged crime 
of which they have not been legally convicted, and confer uni¬ 
versal suffrage upon tlie emancipated negroes. Hence, the Con¬ 
gressional scheme is not only vioL'itive of the Constitution, but 
grossly cruel and unjust, and devoid of that far-seeing and 
comprehensive statesmanship which seeks good government, in 
contradistinction to partisan ascendancy. For who can fail to 
see that those Acts must lead, and were intended to lead to negro 
supremacy f Else why such disfranchisement of the white as to 
throw the power of the ballot-box into the control of the enfran¬ 
chised black race? 

Such is obviously their design, deduced from their letter and 
spirit, not denied by their authors and fully illustrated by the 
manner of their enforcement. Having placed us under military 
law, and tolerating our organized government as merely provi¬ 
sional, its civil officers were compelled to support them, on pain 
of dismissal. Judges and other officers were deposed for refus¬ 
ing to violate the Constitution and laws which they had sworn 
to obey and execute ; all civil and military officers were ordered 
to publish their legal advertisements in such papers only as sus¬ 
tained the Congressional scheme. Thus the purity and inde¬ 
pendence of our judiciary have been polluted and stricken down, 
and the sanctity of the jury-box desecrated by compelling jury 
lists to be made up of whites and blacks indiscriminately; and 
thus the liberty of the press is fettered and tolerated at the will 
of the District Commander and Military Governor of the State. 
To these we might add numerous instances of the violation of 
personal liberty, by arrests without legal accusation or warrant, 
and imprisonment without an impartial and public trial by jury. 
In consideration, therefore, that the establishment of negro 
supremacy was their intention, and that, from the mode of their 
enforcement, it would inevitably be consummated, we firmly 
and deliberately opposed the Reconstruction Acts, as most com¬ 
patible with our self-respect and our duty to the dead and the 
living—to the present and future generations. 

But power has, thus far, triumphed over reason, justice and 



AND OF THE UNITED STATES. 


25 


riglit; and the Convention provided for, representing negroes 
only, with the exception of a few thousand whites, now sits, to 
crystalise into constitutional forms the policy of bringing the 
State of Georgia under the dominion of negro sujyremacy. It is 
without parallel in the annals of the world. For although his¬ 
tory furnishes instances of abolition, yet it affords no example 
of an attempt, by military force, to elevate the emancipated 
slave above his recent master, to subordinate the superior to the 
inferior race, and clothe the latter with the political power of 
the State. It is the most outrageous policy ever advocated by 
a Christian people. It should arrest the alarmed attention of 
every friend of constitutional government throughout the Union, 
as it must awaken the astonishment of the civilized world. The 
perpetration of such monstrous wrong has been reserved for the 
dominant power now controlling the destiny of this country— 
for men, sworn to support and obey the Constitution of a gov¬ 
ernment professedly deriving, as a fundamental principle, “ its 
just powers from the consent of the governed.” 

Felloic-Citizens: Shall negro svpremacy be permanently en¬ 
throned in the State of Georgia? Shall ten States of this Union 
be surrendered, at the point of the bayonet, to the dominion of 
the African race? Shall eight millions of whites be subjected 
to the rule of four millions of blacks ? Shall they become our 
Magistrates, our Legislators, our Judges, our Governors, and 
Representatives in Congress ? Shall seven hundred thousand 
ignorant negroes, who can neither read nor write, who know 
nothing of the principles of the Constitution or of legislation, 
agrarians by instinct, and taught by j)olitical drill-masters that 
they have injuries to avenge against the white race, be admitted 
to the ballot-box? These are the momentous questions which 
demand solution and disturb the peace and harmony of our 
country. If they are to be decided affirmatively, what pen or 
tongue can portray the direful calamities w hich we shall reap at 
no distant day ? The present derangement of Government will 
continue to grow worse, our material prosperity, already arrest¬ 
ed, will be destroyed forever; society, already shocked by sud¬ 
den and forced changes, will be throwm into the most deplorable 
condition of insecurity, and property, life and liberty will be 
exposed to irremediable peril. 

If our silence, in the past, has been construed into apathy and 
indifference, then w^e have been greatly misapprehended. We 






26 


AN ADDRESS TO THE PEOPLE OF GEORGIA 


have submitted, almost without complaint, because every whisper 
of protest has been construed into disloyalty by our oppressors. 

We have offered the feeble opposition of scarcely uttered re¬ 
monstrance, only because outnumbered at the ballot-box, and 
therefore impotent for successful resistance. The Conservative 
people of Georgia feel that tame submission has ceased to be a 
virtue, and has become a crime against their country, their race 
and future generations. The ruthless arm of unhallowed powder 
may enslave and degrade them, but they will never, by word or 
deed, active or passive, consent to the outrage offered to their 
manhood, but they will struggle against it by every legitimate 
means which they can command. They appeal to the friends of 
constitutional government throughout the land to rally to its 
rescue from the grasp of relentless centralism. 

It is the province of enlightened statesmanship to search for 
the cause of political maladies, with a view to their removal. 
It is easy for any candid observer to detect the origin of those 
existing evils which threaten such calamity to our country. We 
have previously remarked, that the Eeconstruction Acts assume 
that Congress has the power to construct governments for the 
proscribed States. This assumption is the fruitful parent of all 
our political troubles. It is not pretended that the authority is 
to be found in the Constitution; on the contrary, it is asserted 
to be outside of the Constitution. This is an admission of the 
nullity of the whole scheme. 

How can Congress act outside of the Constitution ? Outside 
of the Constitution there is no Executive, no Judiciary, no 
Congress—no Government of the United States. Outside of 
the Constitution, Congress—dr rather the men who compose it— 
have no more authority than any other body of individuals vol¬ 
untarily assembled. Outside of the Constitution, they have no 
commission to legislate upon any subject, for any purpose or in 
any manner whatsoever. Every act, outside of the Constitution 
is usurpation and utterly void. What vitality, then, can there 
be in a State government, constructed in pursuance of law^s 
passed by authority, claimed to be outside of the Constitution ? 
How long can it stand, after the bayonets that prop it up shall 
have been removed ? It is a fabric without foundation and must 
fall. These are all self-evident propositions, too axiomatic to 
admit of argument; and they necessarily present, for the consid¬ 
eration of the people of the United States—especially the people 




AND OF THE UNITED STATE?. 


27 


of those States designated, in the parlance of the day, as loyal— 
this giave and momentous question. If the State governments, 
now being constructed by Congress, are thus invalid and can be 
maintained only by force, are they prepared to incur the expense 
and hazard to liberty of a standing army, for such purpose? 
Are they prepared for a military despotism over ten great States 
of this Union, for the mere purpose of oppressing the white race 
and sustaining negro supremacy f Will it be seriously main¬ 
tained that the government can retain its federal character and 
yet sustain such a policy ? Will any candid man assert that it 
is consistent with the confessedly reserved rights of the States ? 
W^ho does not perceive that it will be their entire absorption and 
the conversion of our constitutional Republic into an elective 
oligarchy, whose will, instead of the Constitution, will be the 
‘‘supreme law of the land ? ” And all this for what ? For the 
sake of negro supremacy over the Southern States; for the sake 
of degrading eight millions of white people that four millions 
of negroes may be forced into a status for which they are ut¬ 
terly unfitted. We appeal to the people of the North, who have 
the power, to preserve the Constitution. Are you prepared to 
put in jeopardy our wise fabric of government and the liberty of 
more than thirty millions of our own race, for the sake of en¬ 
franchising four millions of illiterate and semi-civilized Africans? 
“We speak as unto wise men, judge ye what we say.” 

We beg to offer another view for the calm consideration of the 
Northern people. They almost universally contend that seces¬ 
sion was a nullity. The war having so decided it as a question 
of practice, it is not necessary now to contest it as a question of 
right. Then let the assumption be granted. It follows, then, 
that not only the Ordinance of Secession was void, but that all 
the subsequent proceedings—the entire fabric erected upon it— 
were also void. This fabric was the State governments which 
were in existence and in operation when the Confederate arms 
were surrendered and the war was terminated. These State 
governments were illegal because they were built on a breach of 
the true constitutional relation between the States and the Fed¬ 
eral Government. These propositions are true, upon the assump¬ 
tion that secession was a nullity, as insisted upon by the Northern 
people. It follows from them that the States w'ere never out of 
the Union, and that they retained their right to continue as 
such, however their visible organization and constitutional rela- 




28 


AN ADDRESS TO THE TEOPLE OF GEORGIA 


tions may have been disturbed by secession. So far, all is plain 
and easy. The next step is the beginning of the difficulty. If 
these State governments were void, and therefore fell with the 
Confederate cause, how can their places be constitutionally sup¬ 
plied ? Can ii be done by reconstruction f By new State gov¬ 
ernments constructed by the President, Congress or any other 
power? Surely not. No department of the Government of the 
United States, nor all of them combined, is invested with power 
to construct governments for the States. Instead of being con¬ 
ferred by the Constitution, it is palpably inconsistent with it. 
The duty, and the whole duty of the United States with respect 
to the State governments, is clearly defined in the Constitution. 
That duty is to guarantee to every State a Republican form of 
government; to guarantee it, not to create it—to preserve, not 
destroy and then reconstruct it. Can you guarantee what does 
not exist ? The very idea of guaranteeing a government implies, 
necessarily, the pre-existence of the government. And this is 
precisely the duty which the United States owe to each State— 
to support and uphold the government with which each State 
started in the Union, whether that start was made at the begin¬ 
ning or at a later period of our history. Whenever the start 
was n^rde, each State started in the Union with a Republican 
form of government. This is certainly true of Georgia and all 
the original thirteen ; and the admission of other States, at sub¬ 
sequent periods, was a confession by the government, which it is 
estopped from denying, that they, too, were Republican. The 
government, therefore, with which a State started in the Union 
is the government which the United States is obliged to uphold. 
It may be modified in the legitimate way—that is, by the people 
of the State, but always under the limitation that it must remain 
Republican, in form. And since the failure of secession and 
the decision by the sword, that secession was a nullity, as a 
question of practice, it would seem that each State is bound to 
preserve its original relation to the Union, as well as to have a 
Republican form of government. When there is a breach of 
either of these limitations, the thread of legality or constitution¬ 
ality is dropped. All that may come afterwards is on an illegal 
basis and void. Such is the inevitable conclusion, viewing the 
subject from the Northern standpoint. What, then, is the reme¬ 
dy ? Is it for Congress to step in and construct a new govern¬ 
ment ? We have already shown that they have no such power. 




AND OF THE UNITED STATES. 


29 


Blit the remedy is to go back and pick up the thread of legality 
right ivhere it was dropped; or, in other ^vords, restore the gov¬ 
ernment which was wrongfully displaced. . It was not destroyed 
by secession, assuming secession to be void; its functions were 
suspended only; its offices were vacated, but not extinguished, 
Plence it follows, that as soon as the disturbing cause (which was 
secession and its results) was removed, the legitimate Constitu¬ 
tions of the States, which were in force at the time of secession, 
stood in their original vigor, and the offices of their governments 
should have been immediately filled by the proper constituency. 
This doctrine of maintaining the succession of legality in the 
State governments is precisely what was decided by the Supreme 
Court of the United States, in the case of Dorr’s rebellion, in 
Rhode Island. The duty belongs not to Congress alone, nor to 
the President alone, nor to the Federal Judiciary alone, but to 
all of them, each acting in its appropriate sphere— belongs to 
the United States. All of the powers of the United States stand 
pledged to its performance—the duty of maintaining the State 
government with which each State entered the Union, with such 
modification^ as it may have received by the free and voluntary 
action of its people, consistently with the Constitution of the 
United States. Whenever there is a breach of the limitation 
imposed by the Constitution of the United States, everything 
thereafter, too, become illegal and void. The remedy therefore 
is a remission back to the interrupted legal status. Now the late 
war has decided, as a question of fact, that se.cession broke the 
thread of constitutional relation between the seceding States and 
the United States, and that the State governments founded on 
secession w^ere illegal and void, and fell with the Confederate 
cause. These fabrics having thus fallen, the people of the States, 
as a logical necessity, are remitted back to their Constitutions 
and Governments which existed at the time of secession. All 
that was necessary—all that the United States, under the Fed¬ 
eral Constitution had the right to do—(and that they were bound 
to do)—was to restore those governments and constitutions back 
to the people. This w’as their solemn constitutional obligation. 
If it had been promptly recognized and performed, the Union 
would have been immediately harmonized and all political dis¬ 
turbance settled. The remedy therefore for present ills, and the 
only preventive of utter future ruin is, for each department, in 
its appropriate sphere, and all the departments combined—con- 





30 


AN ADDRE88 TO THE PEOPLE OF GEORGIA 


stituting the Governraeht of the United States—to return, in 
good faith, to the Constitution. That instrument guarantees the 
equality of the States in rights and dignity, and recognizes the 
fundamental principles that each, for itself, shall center and 
define State citizenship, and prescribe the qualification for exer¬ 
cising the elective franchise and holding office. 

In making this earnest protest against being placed, by force, 
under negro dominion, we disavow all feeling of resentment to¬ 
wards that unfortunate race. As we are destined to live togeth¬ 
er, 'sve desire harmony and friendship between them and our¬ 
selves; as they are made the dupes of unscrupulous partisans 
and designing adventurers, we pity them ; as they are ignorant, 
dependant and helpless, it is our purpose to protect them in the 
enjoyment of all the rights of person and property to which 
their freedom entitles them. * 

Conservative men of Georgia: Awaken to a proper sense of 
your danger! Organize for a self-protection and ceaseless op¬ 
position to the direful rule of negro supremacy, which is sought 
to be enforced upon us and our children, in defiance of the Con¬ 
stitution, and in contempt of the civilization of th<j age and the 
opinions of mankind. 

Fellow-citizens of the North: Within the last few months, 
the question of negro suffrage has been before you at the ballot- 
box. In a voice not to be misunderstood, you have decided 
against it. You decided voluntarily. It has been decided for 
us, against our will and against our convictions of what is com¬ 
patible with good government and the Constitution of the United 
States; and decided by those who do not expect to live under the 
State governments they propose to establish by force. You decided 
against it, although the number of negroes among you was too 
small to constitute a considerable, much less a controlmg ele¬ 
ment in politics. It is ordained by our oppressors that we shall 
have it, notwithstanding that it will lead to 7iegro supremacy 
over us. We are powerless; you are potent to forbid the out¬ 
rage. Will you stand aloof and calmly see us subjected to this 
damning wrong ; and that, too, when it will imperil the Repub¬ 
lic and spread baleful disaster over every interest? 

Renewing our pledge of unsullied honor and our tender of 
frank and manly obedience to the Constitution, we appeal to 
you, in the name of the Conservative people of our State, to 
unite together in the patriotic efibrt to restore and perpetuate 



AND OF THE UNITED STATES. 


31 


constitutional government. Your recent elections encourage 
our hope and challenge our gratitude. May truth, justice and 
right, “terrible as an army with banners,” gathering strength in 
every conflict, march on “conquering and to conquer,” until its 
friends, rescuing it from the grasp of centralism, shall restore, 
to its appropriate supremacy, the Constitution of the United 
States, so that Georgia, together with her sisters in oppression, 
shall enjoy the same protection which its honest enforcement 
would give to every State in the Union. 

HEKSCHEL V. JOHNSON, 
ABSALOM H. CHAPPELL, 
BENJ. H. HILL, 

WARREN AKIN, 

T. L. GUERRY. 


January 3, 1868. 








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